Pre-loaded electrical connectors, assembly apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

An assembly apparatus for mechanically and electrically connecting conductors to multi-contact electrical connectors. The multi-contact electrical connectors have multiple conductor receiving terminals arranged in a row securely positioned in an appropriate housing. The assembly apparatus connects predetermined conductors to predetermined terminals in each housing by positioning the housings beside each other, locating an intermediate portion of each conductor over corresponding aligned terminals in the housings, moving the conductors into the conductor-receiving portions of the terminals, and cutting out the section of conductor extending between the terminals.

United States Patent [1 1 Aldridge et al.

1 PRE-LOADED ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS, ASSEMBLY APPARATUS AND METHOD {76] Inventors: Lionel Dennis Aldridge, 7635 Ridge,

Seminole. Fla. 33540; Edward Dennman Bunnell, Rt. No. 1. Box 448, Palm Harbor, Fla. 33563 [22] Filed: July 24, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 491,209

Related U.S. Application Data [62] Division -of Ser. No. 321.505, Jan 8. 1973,

abandoned. I

52 u.s.c1....; 29/203 MW [51] Int. Cl l-l0lr 43/04 [58] Field of Search 29/203 MW, 203 R, 203 D, 29/203 -DT, 203 DS [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,758,935 9/1973 Long et al. 29/203 MW [4 1 Feb. 18, 1975,

$769,701 11/1973 Kloth 29/203 MW 3,800.390 4/1974 Johnston... 3.803.695 4/1974 Tucci 29/203 H Primary litamincw l homas H. Eager Attorney, Agent. or FirmF. W Raring; J. L. Seitchik; W. J. Keating [57} ABSTRACT An assembly apparatus for mechanically and electrically connecting conductors to multi-contact electrical connectors. The rnulticontact electrical connectors have multiple conductor receiving terminals arranged in a row securely positioned in an appropriate housing. The assembly apparatus connects predetermined Y conductors to predetermined terminals in each hous- 8 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB 1 8 I975 sum 1 or e PATENTEU FEB 18 1975 86 6,29.

sum 5 or s PATENTED FEB] 8|975 SHEET 6 BF 6 PRE-LOADED ELECTRICAL CONNECTORS, ASSEMBLY APPARATUS AND METHOD This is a divisional application of pendingprior application Ser. No. 321,505 filed on Jan. 8, 1973, now U.S. Patent 3,842,392. I

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to apparatus for installing multicontact electrical connectors on conductors. The invention herein disclosed is an embodiment used in conjunction with a pair of mateable hermaphoditic connectors but the principles of the invention are applicable to a wide variety of multi-contact connecting devices. Other assembly apparatus which can be used to install multi-contact'electrical connectors on conductors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,935, U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,701, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,800,390, and 3,803,695. Those assembly apparatus do not employ the scheme here devised for insuring that the proper one of many'conductors as installed on appropriate mateable connecting terminals.

It is common practice in the electrical connector art to produce multi-contact electrical connectors by first cutting electrical leads from a coil of wire, stripping insulation from the ends of the leads, crimping electrical contact terminals onto the stripped ends, and finally inserting the terminals into the cavities of an electrical connector housing. Frequently, and particularly in the manufacture of electrical harnesses, the terminals cannot beinserted indiscriminately into the cavities but must be inserted into specific predetermined cavities in the housing since the leads or wires in a harness are not necessarily 'of the same length and each leadmust be connected to a predetermined lead in a mating harness when the harness is put to use. Thismethod ofinstalling connectors on conductors is time consuming and inefficient and has several comparative disadvantages which can result in the production of defective harnesses. For example, during the interval between crimping of the terminals onto the conductors and insertion of the terminals into the cavities of the connector housing, the electrical leads must be repeatedly handled and transported from one work location to another. The terminals are subject to damage during this interval and if one or more terminals in a finished harness is found to be damaged, it must be replaced or the harness discarded. Furthermore, the fact that predetermined terminals must be inserted into predetermined cavities in the connector housing gives rise to the possibility of a terminal being inserted into the wrong cavity and the production of a defective harness. The present invention is generally addressed to the solution of some ofthese manufacturing problems.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved multi-contact electrical connector and an improved multi-contact electrical connector assembly. A still further object is to provide a connector assembly apparatus for connectors which may or may not be hermaphroditic, upon which conductors can be assembled in an improved manner. A further object is to facilitate use of a'pair of mateable preloaded electrical connecfor connecting conductors to the terminals in a pair of described in the foregoing abstract, which are described in detail below and which are shown in the ac companying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of ahermaphroditic electrical connector assembly in accordance with the invention, the two connector parts being coupled to each other thereby to connect the wires extending into each connector part.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a hermaphroditic electrical connector housing in accordance with the invention showing a contact terminal exploded from one of the contact receiving cavities of the housing.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the housing of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are views takenalong the lines 4-4 and 55 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a view taken along the lines 6-6 of FIG. 3 but showing contact terminals and conductors installed in the contact receiving cavities of the housing.

FIG. 7 is a view taken along the lines 7-7 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, of the contact portions of two mateable contact terminals of the type shown in FIG. 2, this view showing the contact portions separated from each other.

FIG. .9 is a view similar to FIG. 8 but showing the contact portions in engagement with each other.

' FIG. 10 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view showing two connector parts positioned side-by-side in a connector holding jig preparatory to the formation of electrical connections between terminals in the connector parts and a conductor.

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 10 but showing the positions of the parts at the conclusion of the connection operation.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of one form of assembly apparatus for connecting conductors to terminals in connectors in accordance with the invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-contact electrical connector assembly 2 in accordance with the invention comprises a pair of connector parts 4, 4 which can'be coupled to, and decoupled from, each other to connect connector parts. The same reference numerals, differentiated by prime marks will be used to identify corresponding structural features of the two connector parts.

tors having contact terminals therein to which predej termined conductors can be connected in a manner Connector part 4 comprises a housing 4 of insulating material having an upper 'or mating face 8 and an underside or rearward face 10. A .plurality of contact'receiving cavities 12 extend into the housing from the matingface 8, and are arranged in a row which extends between the ends 32, 42 of the housing. Each cavity has a central transversely extending rib 13 (FIG. 3 and 5) which serves to support and locate a contact terminal mounted therein as will be explained below. Openings 16 are provided in the side 18 which extends between shown at 22 and three upstanding teeth 24, 26, 28 project from the mating face 8 adjacent to side of the housing. The tooth 28 is immediately adjacent to the portion 23 of the side 20 so thatwhen the connector 4 is mated with the connector 4 the teeth 28, 28 will be against the portions 21, 21 of the sides 20, 20 as indicated in FIG. 3. An elongated recess 30 extends inwardly on the mating face 8 in alignment with the teeth 24, 26 which are set back from the portion 21 of the side 20. When the two housings are mated, the recess 30 will receive the teeth 24', 26' of the housing 4 and the recess 30 will similarly receive the teeth 24, 26 of the housing 4. It will be apparentfrom FIG. 2 that the teeth 24, 26, 28'are located on the mating face 8 such that wires or conductors extending between the teeth will extend over cavities l2 and will be above and in alignment with the contact terminals contained in these cavities. As will be explained below, these teeth serve to locate the conductors when the connector is installed on a plurality of conductors.

A partial hood 34 extends upwardly, as viewed in FlG. 2, from the righthand end 32 of the housing 4 and partially surrounds the mating face 8. An opening 36 (see FIG. 3) extends through the housing adjacent to the end 32 from the mating face to the lower or rearward face 10, this opening being generally rectangular and having a central inwardly extending boss 38 which defines a downwardly facing shoulder 40. The upper v side 39 of base 38 is inclined downwardly toward the .rearward face 40 in order to facilitate the flexing of the latch arm 50 of the connector part 4 during coupling as will be described below.

An additional pair of spaced apart teeth 44, 46 extend from the mating face 8 adjacent to the end 42,

these teeth having a thickness which is substantially equal to, and slightly less than, the width of the opening 36 so that the teeth 44, 46 of the connector part 4 can enter the opening 36' of the connector part4 as shown in FIG. 7. The teeth 44,46 are inwardly spaced from the side 42 so that'ledges 48 are provided adjacent to the teeth at their fixed ends. A flexible latch arm 50 extends from the lefthand end of the mating face 8 between the teeth 44, 46 and has a pointed upper end 52 and a downwardly facing shoulder 54 adjacent to its upper end. An opening 56 extends through the housing from the rearwardface 10 thereof and has one sidewhich merges with the outwardly facing side 47 of the latch arm to permit access to the end of the latch arm for decoupling purposes when the connector part 4 is coupled to the part 4. I

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the housing 4 can be coupled to the housing 4' by locating the housings in face-to-face relationship and in end-to-end inverted relationship (end 32 of housing 4 in alignment relationship of the housing 4 to the housing 4 is, of

course, the same as that of the housing 4 to the housing v 4. It should be noted (FIG. 7),that when the housings are coupled,.- the mating faces are against each other and portions of the ledges 48 are against the side portions of they boss 38.

The two housings can be disengaged from each other by inserting thin' blades throughthe openings 56, 56 and disengaging the ends of. the latch arms from the shoulders 40, 40'. Advantageously, projections 55, 57 are provided at the ends of the housings to permit manual gripping of the two parts during separation.

Each of the electrical contact terminals l4.has a central conductor receiving portion made up of a pair of parallel plate-like members 58, 60 which are connected at their upper or free ends by spaced-apart straps 62. Conductor receiving slots 64 extend into these plate sections from their upper ends so that a conductor can be moved downwardly between the plate sections and into the slots. The slots are of a width. such that they will penetrate the insulation of the conductor and deform the metallic core thereof so that the edges of the slots will be brought into intimate electrical contact with the metallic cores of the conductors as shown in FIG. 7. Advantageously, the slot in the plate section 60 is relatively narrower than the slot in the plate section 58 so that the slot in the former plate section will drastically deform the metallic core of a conductor 6 and establish good electrical contact therewith while the slot in the plate section 58 will penetratethe insulation of the wire but will not drastically deform the metallic core. This arrangement provides good electrical contact in combination with a mechanical strain relief for the wire as explained in US. Pat. No. 3,617,983. A flange 66 extends normally outwardly fromthe plate section and arms 68 extend upwardly from the end of this flange. These arms are adapted to be crimped into embracing relationship with a conductor to provide a strain relief therefor.

An additional flange or plate section 70 extends from the plate section 60 and has contact arms 72, 74 extending upwardly from its side edges. As shown best in FIG. 8, the contact arms 72 is relatively long and its upper end 78 is above the upper ends of the plate sections 58, 60 of the terminal. The upper end of arm 72 is formed inwardlyto provide an inclined surface and a boss 82. The shorter contact arm 74 extends generally parallel to arm 72 and is formed inwardly to provide a spherical surface 76 on its inner side. When two contact terminals are inverted and moved towards each other, the contact arms engage each other as shown in FIG. 9. The boss .76 slides over the surface 80 and flexes the arm 72 inwardly until boss 76' is moved past I I the contact boss 82. As is apparent from FIG. 9, redundant contacts areachieved at four separate locations and the long and flexible arms 72, 72' are flexed inwardly by the short and stiff arms 74, 74' to provide the continuing contact pressure required for a low resistance and stable electrical connection.

A shearing plate 84 extends normally of the flange or plate section 70 and parallel to the plate sections 58, 60. The upper edge 126 of this shearing plate cooperates with an insertion apparatus to sever the conductor being inserted into the slot 64 as will be described below. As the terminals 14 and 14' are located in linearly dicated in FIG. 2. Ears 67, which extend laterally from flange'66, dig into the walls of the cavity as do the laterally extending barbs :86 at each side of the shearing plate 84 so that the contacts will be securely anchored in their respective cavities. The ribs 13 of the cavities are received between the plate sections 58, 60 at the lower ends thereof and support these plate sections against buckling during installation of the connector on conductors.

Referring now to FIGS. -12, the conductors 6, 6 are connected to the terminals 14, 14 by means of an apparatus 101 which has insertion punches 110 (FIG. 11) for pushing the conductors into the conductor receiving portions of aligned terminals in two connector parts. The two connector parts 4, 4 are positioned on a holding jig 88 having a base 90 and a pair of spaced apart L-shaped locating clamps 92, 92. These plates have aligned recesses 94, 94' which are spaced apart by distances corresponding to the spacing between adjacent cavities 12 in the connector parts. The connector parts 4, 4 are located in side by side relationship between the locating plates 92, 92' with Their sides against each other with corresponding contact terminals in the two part in alignment with each other, and with the vertical legs 94 of the clamps against the sides 18, 18'. Thebase 90 has rails 96 on its underside so that it can be slid in grooves 98 on the sides of a fixed rail 100 mounted on the base section 102 of the apparatus 101. The apparatus has a generally U-shaped head frame 104 on which there is provided a forwardly extending arm 106. A ram 108 is mounted in suitable bushings in arm 106 and is resiliently biased upwardly by suitable springs (not specifically shown) against one end 130 of a bell crank 128. A plurality of wire cutting and inserting punches 110 are mounted on the lower end of ram 108, one punch being provided for each pair of aligned terminals 14, 14 in the connector parts.

Each insertion and cutting punch 110 has a central recess 112 and depending legs 114, 114 on each side of this recess, these legs being substantially identical and mirror images of each other. The leg 114 has a central relatively shallow recess 116 which is adapted to receive the spaced apart plates 158, 160 of the conductor receiving section of the terminal 14 and has on the righthand side of this recess forming or die surfaces 122 on its lower end forcurling the arms 68 of the terminal onto the conductor 6. On the lefthand side of recess 116, the leg 114 has an edge 124 which cooperates with upper edge 126 of the previously identified shearing plate 84 of the terminal 114. The lower edge portions 118, 120 of the leg 114 immediately adjacent to the rec'ess 116 are adapted to engage the conductor and push it downwardly into the conductor receiving slots 64 of the terminal.

The insertion punches on the lower end of the ram are moved downwardly by means of a linkage comprising the previously identified bell crank 128 which is pivoted at 132 between ears 133 extending from the upper surface of the arm 106. Bell crank 128 is pivotally connected by parallel links 134 to a lever arm 136 which in turn has its end pivoted at 138 between additional ears 139 which are integral with the head frame 104. It will be apparent that the ram 108 and therefore the insertion punches 110 can be moved downwardly as viewed in FIG. 12 by merely swinging the lever 136 downwardly from its position as shown.

When conductors are to be attached to terminals in the'connector parts 4, 4, the two connector parts are first positioned on the jig 88. Elongated conductors 6a are then located in each aligned pair of openings 93,

93 in the vertical legs 94, 94' of the locating plates 92, 92. Conductors located in aligned pairs of slots 93, 93' will extend between the teeth 24, 26, 24', 26' between the teeth 26, 28, 26, 28, and between the teeth 28, 28 and partial hoods 34, 34'. This operation will locate one conductor above each aligned pair of terminals l4, 14 in the two connector parts. i

The jig 88 is then slid along the rail until it is against a suitable stop (not specifically shown) and is located beneath the ram 108 with an insertion punch 112 above each conductor 6a. The handle 136 is then swung downwardly to drive the punches against the conductors and push the conductors downwardly into the aligned terminals in the connectors. During such downward movement of the punches 110, the conductors are severed by the edges 126, 124 and 126, 124 of the punches 110 and the shear plates 84, 84. This severing operation produces a short section 6b of scrap conductor which extends between the aligned terminals and results in the joining of the conductors 6, 6' to the terminals in the two connector parts. Thereafter, the ram is returned to its normal position, the connector parts are removed from the jig 88 and they can be coupled to each other as shown in FIG. 1.

The practice of the invention results in several advantages and economies in the manufacture of electrical harnesses and in the installation of connectors on conductors. A significant advantage is that predetermined conductors are connected to specifically predetermined terminals in the connector housings when the conductors are laced through the jig and inserted and trimmed as illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11. It follows that the possibility of the commission of errors is virtually eliminated with regard to the positions of the wires in the connectors. in other words, after a given conductor 6 has been located in alignment with a predetermined aligned pair of terminals 14, 14' it is inevitable that the resulting conductors 6, 6 will be connected to each other when the two connector parts are mated with each other. There can be no errors of the type discussed above of misplacement of conductors in either of the connector housings.

A further advantage of the invention is that there can be no damage to the terminals since they are contained in and protected by the housing. Finally, the time required for location of the conductors 6a in the jig is substantially less than the time required inserting individual terminals into predetermined cavities of a housing in accordance with prior art practice. This is be cause the operation of locating a given one of the conductors 6a above a given pair 14, 14 of terminals actually determines the identity of the conductors which in the completed connector assembly will be connected to the same predetermined pair of terminals. The location of a single conductor 6a thus results in the determination of the locations of two separate conductors 6, 6 in the housings.

Modifications of the invention within the scope of the appended claims will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the principles of the invention are not necessarily apparent all only to hermaphroditic connectors and terminals although hermaphroditic terminals are advantageous under many circumstances. I

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for electrically and mechanically connecting predetermined conductors to terminals in each of two multi-contact electrical devices, each of said terconductor severing means being effective to sever conductors along first and second severing lines, each of said first and second severing lines extending adjacent to a separate row of wire receiving portions and between said rows, said severing means comprising fixed severing edge means defining said first and second severing lines and movable severing edge means movable past said fixed severing edge means, said movable severing edge means being movable with said inserting means whereby, upon positioning said connectors in said jig means and upon locating said conductors with their axes extending across said rows of wire receiving portions and in alignment with said conductor receiving portions, and upon movement of said conductor inserting means towards ,said jig means, each of said conductors is inserted into the conductor-receiving slots of two corresponding terminals in said'connectors, and the portion of each conductor extending between said wire receiving portions is severed from each of said conductors.

2. Apparatus for electrically and mechanically connecting predetermined conductors to terminals in each of two mateable' multi-contact electrical connectors, each of said terminals having a conductor-receiving portion which is adapted to receive a conductor upon movement of said conductor laterally of its axis and into said conductor-receiving portion, said conductor receiving portions in each of said connectors being arranged in side-by-side relationship in a row, said apparatus comprising:

connectorjig means for holding said connectors adjacent to each other with said rows extending parallel to each other'and with corresponding contact terminals in said two connectors in alignment,

first and second conductor inserting means, each of said conductor inserting means being movable along predetermined paths extending towards and away from said jig means each of said conductorinserting means having means for inserting conductogether in the same direction.

tors into each of said conductor receiving portions of said terminals in one of said rows, first and second conductor severing means being effective to sever conductors, which extend in sideby-side parallel relationship across said rows of wire-receiving portions, along first and second severing lines, each of said first and second severing lines extending adjacent to a separate row of wirereceiving portions and between said rows, said severing means comprising a fixed severing edge means defining said severing lines and a movable severing edge means movable past said fixed sever ing edge means, said movable severing edge means being movable with said inserting means whereby, upon positioning said connectors in said jig means and upon locating said conductors-with their axes extending across said rows of wire-receiving portions and in alignment with said conductor receiving portions, and upon movement of said conductor inserting means towards said jig means,each of said conductors is inserted into the conductor-receiving slots of two corresponding terminals in said connectors, and the portion of each conductor extending between said wire receiving portions is severed from each of said conductors.

3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2 said first and second conductor inserting means being movable along predetermined paths extending towards and away from said jig means, said predetermined paths being parallel and said first and second inserting means both moving 4. An apparatus asset forth in claim 2, said connector jig means holding said-rows of conductor-receiving portions remote from each other and proximate to the outer ends of said jig means. V

5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2, said first and second inserting means comprising punching means.

6. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5, for use with terminals having a plate-like conductor receiving portion and a slot therein for receiving said conductor, said punching means being effective to force said conductor into said slot, said slots extending into suitable recesses in said punching means. 1

7. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5, said first and second inserting means being an integral punching block means for each pair of corresponding'cont'act terminals in said two connectors in alignment.

8. An apparatus as setforth in claim 2, said movable severing edge means being edge means on said first and second conductor inserting means. 

1. Apparatus for electrically and mechanically connecting predetermined conductors to terminals in each of two multicontact electrical devices, each of said terminals having a conductor-receiving portion which is adapted to receive a conductor upon movement of said conductor laterally of its axis and into said conductor-receiving portion, said conductor receiving portions in each of said connectors being arranged in side-by-side relationship in a row, said apparatus comprising: connector jig means for holding said connectors with said rows extending parallel to each other, conductor inserting means cooperable with said conductor receiving portions of said terminals, movable along a predetermined path extending towards and away from said jig means, conductor severing means being effective to sever conductors along first and second severing lines, each of said first and second severing lines extending adjacent to a separate row of wire receiving portions and between said rows, said severing means comprising fixed severing edge means defining said first and second severing lines and movable severing edge means movable past said fixed severing edge means, said movable severing edge means being movable with said inserting means whereby, upon positioning said connectors in said jig means and upon locating said conductors with their axes extending across said rows of wire receiving portions and in alignment with said conductor receiving portions, and upon movemeNt of said conductor inserting means towards said jig means, each of said conductors is inserted into the conductor-receiving slots of two corresponding terminals in said connectors, and the portion of each conductor extending between said wire receiving portions is severed from each of said conductors.
 2. Apparatus for electrically and mechanically connecting predetermined conductors to terminals in each of two mateable multi-contact electrical connectors, each of said terminals having a conductor-receiving portion which is adapted to receive a conductor upon movement of said conductor laterally of its axis and into said conductor-receiving portion, said conductor receiving portions in each of said connectors being arranged in side-by-side relationship in a row, said apparatus comprising: connector jig means for holding said connectors adjacent to each other with said rows extending parallel to each other and with corresponding contact terminals in said two connectors in alignment, first and second conductor inserting means, each of said conductor inserting means being movable along predetermined paths extending towards and away from said jig means each of said conductor inserting means having means for inserting conductors into each of said conductor receiving portions of said terminals in one of said rows, first and second conductor severing means being effective to sever conductors, which extend in side-by-side parallel relationship across said rows of wire-receiving portions, along first and second severing lines, each of said first and second severing lines extending adjacent to a separate row of wire-receiving portions and between said rows, said severing means comprising a fixed severing edge means defining said severing lines and a movable severing edge means movable past said fixed severing edge means, said movable severing edge means being movable with said inserting means whereby, upon positioning said connectors in said jig means and upon locating said conductors with their axes extending across said rows of wire-receiving portions and in alignment with said conductor receiving portions, and upon movement of said conductor inserting means towards said jig means, each of said conductors is inserted into the conductor-receiving slots of two corresponding terminals in said connectors, and the portion of each conductor extending between said wire receiving portions is severed from each of said conductors.
 3. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2 said first and second conductor inserting means being movable along predetermined paths extending towards and away from said jig means, said predetermined paths being parallel and said first and second inserting means both moving together in the same direction.
 4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2, said connector jig means holding said rows of conductor-receiving portions remote from each other and proximate to the outer ends of said jig means.
 5. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2, said first and second inserting means comprising punching means.
 6. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5, for use with terminals having a plate-like conductor receiving portion and a slot therein for receiving said conductor, said punching means being effective to force said conductor into said slot, said slots extending into suitable recesses in said punching means.
 7. An apparatus as set forth in claim 5, said first and second inserting means being an integral punching block means for each pair of corresponding contact terminals in said two connectors in alignment.
 8. An apparatus as set forth in claim 2, said movable severing edge means being edge means on said first and second conductor inserting means. 